AHMEDABAD: This Independence Day, 596 surveillance cameras will go live in Ahmedabad's public spaces. The system is touted as one of the widest operational government CCTV cameras networks in the country. The project is worth more than Rs 320 crore. The cameras are being installed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

The camera feeds will be monitored by seven different control rooms, 24 hours a day in the city. The locations of the control rooms are not being disclosed for security reasons by AMC. The cameras are being installed across BRTS corridors, public gardens, bus stations, including Geeta Mandir, outside the railway station, hospitals important transit AMTS bus stands, busy market places and over the bridges.

The much needed surveillance network was being delayed for more than six years after Ahmedabad witnessed the serial blasts in July 2008, in the absence of any guidelines and standards. It was municipal commissioner Guruprasad Mohapatra who had formed a special team to draw a road map for the project. "The surveillance network will be scaled further as the home department will be sanctioning funds for the city police to install more surveillance cameras across the city," says senior AMC official.

On Tuesday, the first control room was operationalized in the city with the first feeds being received in one of the control rooms near Paldi. All AMC run hospitals have been brought under the security net. One can now come to the rescue of people who attempt suicides on bridges, also those who throw religious paraphernalia into rivers in plastic bags

. The cameras are powerful and can read vehicle number plates, see faces and are night vision enabled.

The footage will be shared with the Ahmedabad city police and used for surveillance activities. The AMC official claims that the cameras are being presently installed on optical fiber network and can be easily upgraded to the internet protocol (IP) based system.

Parin Shah, a resident of Vastrapur says that having CCTV cameras installed in public places is a good idea and it will help keep the anti social elements in check. "In Vastrapur, there is a huge nuisance of bikers gangs that vroom around on the roads smashing car panes and generally creating panic amongst residents. CCTV cameras would facilitate nabbing such rowdy elements," says Shah.

Sejal Patel, a resident of Prahladnagar says that the CCTV cameras will help instill as sense of discipline amongst the youngsters who tend to get too intimate for comfort in public places like public gardens and lakes," says Patel.